Just a Memory
by LemonadeRaid
Summary: A follow-up to the last episode of the original Teen Titans cartoon which follows Terra, who has indeed genuinely forgotten Beast Boy and the rest of the team. After Beast Boy tells his friends of her memory loss, the Titans decide to figure out just what may be wrong with this "not Terra"; but this new mystery just might be more problematic and befuddling than first thought.
1. Prologue

**Just a Memory**

Prologue:

They'd done it: they'd managed to vanquish one of their biggest challenges yet. They'd gone to a whole other continent to do so; but they'd been all over the world before, so going to Paris was just a minor thing for them to do. They'd defeated the infamous Brotherhood of Evil, lead by the clever and elusive Brain, and had managed to permanently sever the roots of his society of villains. With the dastardly group gone forever, there was only one place for "them" to go now: home. Home sounded so nice at the moment; it was where they could take a nice, long, relaxing break after having been through such a dangerous and difficult mission. It was where the group of five superheroes, known to the world as the Teen Titans, could just kick back and be themselves. Robin, the leader of the team, had insisted that the group should go home after vanquishing the Brotherhood of Evil, but the five had stayed in Paris, France, for a short time to admire the gorgeous city while they could.

After a few days, Robin had finally put his foot down and insisted that they return home. He loved being in the City of Light, truthfully-he had even been the one to suggest that the five visit a few key points of interest in the city-but he wanted to make sure that their own city was safe from the hands of any other villains who may still be lurking. So, Robin and the others had gone home and had allowed some honorary titans to stay at their house-which was actually a gigantic tower in the shape of the letter 'T'. But before the week was up, however, the others had left, leaving only the five key members of the Teen Titans to relax in their tower. Titans East, their friends, had taken care of things while they were away, but now, the group (also of five heroes) had gone back to their own dwelling.

Robin was obviously the happiest to be home, since he believed that he was best suited to defend the city along with his four friends. He was a serious, level-headed young man, yet he also had a good sense of humor and enjoyed playing video games with his teammates. He also loved to spend time working out and planning strategies in his mind. Usually, he wore a green-sleeved red shirt with the letter 'R' on the right side-which, of course, stood for Robin. He had a utility belt jam-packed with all kinds of gadgets and weapons he could use in battle or to escape from a sticky situation, green pants and gloves, black-and-white shoes, and a facial mask which covered his eyes. He almost never took it off, thus, only a select few people knew what his eyes underneath looked like.

Starfire, a female alien hailing from the planet Tamaran, looked human enough to be considered such. Her skin looked like it was a shade of orange, yet could be passed off as just a severe tan, her eyes were a very bright green, and her long red hair often got a bit tangled, just as human hair did. Starfire was happy to be home, like Robin was. She, truthfully, had enjoyed France, but she had missed spending time with her "little bumgorf", who was a mutilated, pink silkworm named Silkie. The girl alien, cheery and innocent as she was, found herself in an even happier state when she had returned to Titans' Tower and unpacked her luggage. When she had completed this, she rushed to do some cooking for herself, which she often did since the other titans ate different foods than what Tamaraneans ate. She often ate things like "zorka berries" and "glorka roaches", which were appetizing to her, but often made the others sick when they ate them. Despite their comments about her strange food, however, Starfire was so accustomed to it that she could never see herself giving it up for very long.

Cyborg was one of the titans who managed to get physically sick when chowing down on Starfire's "food". He was half human, half robot, and all-intelligent. He'd been in an accident in high school which had rendered him unable to survive as a human, but thanks to the expertise of his father, a scientist, he had managed to come out of the situation all right-with robot limbs to replace the human ones he had lost. At first, he was so embarassed about the way he looked that he ran away, but he had eventually been found by Robin and the others. They realized he had great power, and had welcomed him onto the team with open arms. Cyborg had come to love being a robot, since he had some built-in tools, weapons, and mechanisms which allowed him to have advantages over normal humans. Unlike when he had first become half robot, he was now a cheerful, extremely smart teen with a friendly personality and a lot of talent when it came to technical things, and to repairing items.

Then there was Raven, who was a demon-human hybrid born of the most evil being in the universe, Trigon, and a very peaceful woman by contrast, Arella. Raven was destined to one day become her father's portal into the human world so that he could take over everything, but, with the help of her friends, she had managed to defeat him and bring the earth into a peaceful state once again. Though she usually seemed to have a chip on her shoulder and a frown on her face, the girl was amazingly loyal and protective of her friends. Though she would never admit she cherished them, she could never deny it, either. Raven was the most powerful of the Teen Titans; she could levitate objects, travel to other dimensions, contact the spirit world, and had very good stamina overall. She always wore an indigo cape-only took it off when she slept-had violet eyes and hair, gray skin, and what she lacked in jokes, she made up with in sarcasm.

And then there was Beast Boy, a human who had green eyes, skin, and hair. This was thanks to his parents injecting him with an untested serum when he was still very young. This serum also gave him the unexpected ability to morph into any mammal, fish, bug, dinosaur, reptile, or bird that he wished. After joining and then leaving a superhero group known as the Doom Patrol, Beast Boy found himself becoming one of the founding members of the Teen Titans. He, also being the first one to like and accept Cyborg as his best friend, loved playing video games and cracking jokes-which were often very corny and stupid to Raven but appreciated by Starfire. Though sometimes he wound up being discarded as a goof to the others, he felt there was only one person who ever truly loved his humor-and loved him as a person.

That was Terra, a young lady with the ability to control the ground, rocks, and soil of the earth. She had come to know Beast Boy and the Teen Titans a while ago, when they had witnessed her stop a villain all by herself with her extraordinary powers. Before, they had no idea that she was a superheroine, since she looked so ordinary, but they had invited her to stay at their tower for the time being. Beast Boy had warmed up to her and she, in return, trusted him the most of all of the titans. She couldn't control her powers, and made him promise that he wouldn't tell anyone of her secret. Terra wanted to stay with them, but was afraid she would cause trouble, so she remained undecided. A while later, while Terra was still with the titans, they had recieved warning that an old foe of Robin's, Slade, was attacking an old mine and his robot minions were causing an extensive amount of damage.

Robin had once been Slade's apprentice when the latter had threatened to destroy the other four members of the team. Since he had no other choice, Robin had reluctantly accepted his offer and became his sidekick. Eventually, however, he escaped from Slade's evil clutches with some help, and had returned to his team to continue leading them. But the villain, determined to get rid of the Teen Titans, returned later and set his sights on Terra. He managed to brainwash her after she ran away from the team after Beast Boy "lied" to her. She, like Robin, became Slade's apprentice because he told her that he would teach her to control her powers. After he did just that, he ordered her to return to the five titans in order to gain their trust. When the time was right, she was to unleash her great power and destroy them, then take over the city. Terra did return to Titans' Tower, acting just as she had before, but with much more confidence in her abilities. She showed off her powers, which impressed the titans (all except for Raven, who was very suspicious of her) and eventually became one of them. She acted as a heroine for a long while with the titans, eventually earned Raven's trust, and earned a huge dose of affection from Beast Boy.

He'd managed to get her to go out with him on a date; however, it was on the very day that she decided to break into Cyborg's security system for the tower and deactivate it. She went out with Beast Boy, had a genuinely nice time with him, but found herself feeling very guilty about what she had done. Right when she was going to admit her wrongs to him, Slade showed up, confronted Beast Boy, and told him that Terra was working for him all along. He vigorously denied it, not wanting to believe that she was involved in anything underhanded, but she told him that what Slade said was true. Beast Boy got very mad and turned his back on her, and Terra went with Slade to plan an assault on the titans. She was given a suit which integrated into her nervous system-giving the evil Slade the power to control some of her actions in battle. Victory for the titans seemed impossible, now, even though they never gave up.

They eventually began to overpower Terra and she, despite Slade's orders to fight with all she had, retreated to his underground base. He became extremely angered by her refusal to obey him, and took full control over her body. Meanwhile, however, Beast Boy, determined to get revenge on Terra once and for all, managed to locate her. But, to his surprise, she didn't want to fight him anymore, and begged him to stop Slade in whatever way he could. Beast Boy insisted that Terra could help him stop Slade, and told her that she could take control of her powers again. She apologized to him for everything that she'd done, and had such an incredible surge of power that it triggered an underground volcano which destroyed Slade. Terra insisted that she must stay behind to prevent the volcano from destroying the entire city, even if it was at her expense. Beast Boy was very reluctant to let her go, but he eventually decided it was for the best. He said a sad goodbye to Terra, receiving a hug of gratitude from her, and left.

When Beast Boy and the other four titans returned, they found that her body was now a stone statue. Raven and Cyborg began to search for ways to bring her back, but the two could never find any way to revive her. As often as he could, Beast Boy would go to the site where her statue was and spend a while there, talking to her and telling her jokes, even though she couldn't react to him.

But Slade was alive, unbeknownst to the titans. He had been saved by Trigon, Raven's father, who was bent on taking over the world. Trigon commissioned Slade to bring Raven to a designated location so that she could be her father's portal into the human world. She, however, had to be willing to do so, and the job that Slade was given was to taunt her, trying to make her fate seem enevitable to her. The girl was very unwilling to give in, but eventually, she found herself unable to deny her "purpose", and went to give herself up so that her father could take over. The others tried to stop and protect her, but Raven let Trigon into the world so that he could take over. All of the living things on earth aside from the four Teen Titans-Raven had put a spell on them so that they would remain alive-and Slade were turned into stone statues, just as Terra was. Eventually, the group of four was confronted by Slade, who was very angry with Trigon because the demon had failed to supply him with what he wanted in return for getting Raven to become his portal. Very irritated, he joined forces with Robin, who was determined to get his friend back. The two went together, but soon went seperate ways as Slade sought to get what was his-which was his body; and it happened to be in a different direction.

He regained his human body (he'd become simply a skeleton because of his burns in the lava) and rejoined the titans to help fight off Trigon once Robin had located Raven, who was reborn as a young child and, consequently, didn't remember anything from before. They all fought together, but it was only when Raven remembered what she wanted to be that she ultimately vanquished her father. The world was returned to normal, and life continued as it had before. But Slade had mysteriously disappeared during these events and, despite Robin's assurance that they would find him, the titans never did.

Later, after the five returned from destroying the Brotherhood of Evil, Beast Boy made a discovery which, in truth, surprised him, to say the very least. After battling an elusive white monster which proved to escape in the end, the boy, by chance, happened to spot a girl who looked exactly like Terra. He tried to get her attention, but while he had his back turned for a moment, the girl vanished. Beast Boy tried to tell the team what he had seen, but they didn't believe his words since they had tried everything and couldn't seem to be able to bring her back to life after she had been turned to stone. They didn't think he was lying, but nor did they quite believe his story. Beast Boy, angered by their lack of belief in him, went to search all over the city for Terra. He ran into "her" at a high school downtown, but she insisted that she didn't know who he was and that her name was not Terra. This greatly confused young Beast Boy, yet he thought that he could revive her memory by showing her things that she knew from before. This attempt, however, failed to work for her, and she firmly told Beast Boy that she didn't know him or recognize Titans' Tower.

Beast Boy revisited the amusement park where he had taken Terra on their first date. He returned to the house of mirrors where he had first discovered that his friend was a spy for Slade. But while there, Beast Boy had a surprise meeting with Slade...or, as he discovered after he destroyed it, a robot prototype of the villain. Its only purpose seemed to be to taunt Beast Boy so that he would believe that Terra didn't _want_ to remember him. Slade was still alive, apparently-who else would have made the robot? But if he was, he was hidden well. Beast Boy was too distracted to look for him now; all he could think of to do was try to get through to Terra one last time.

Their final confrontation was at the high school, where Beast Boy gave one final try to push "Terra" to remember him and remember her former friends. He was certain that she was the same girl since she looked, sounded like, and acted so much like her, but she told him again that she was not who he thought she was. He offered to give her his communicator so that she could call him if she needed him for any reason. But much to his dismay, she rejected this offer, and left. He was crushed, but couldn't dwell on this for long because he then received a call from Robin. The leader told him that the team was fighting the strange white creature, still, but they were in need of his assistance.

He made up his mind to leave, and that's what he did. He left the school, hoping that one day Terra would come around. It may not be that day or the day after, but he wanted her to come back to the team with him more than anything. She may not know it now, but she, in reality, was more than what she seemed.


	2. The Mysteries

"Beast Boy to Robin," responded the green superhero to his leader over his handheld communicator-a yellow-and-black device with various buttons and switches, "I'm on my way. Over." he looked on into the crowd for a fraction of a second longer,trying to prevent his emerald eyes from welling up again. The only way he could do so, it seemed, was to look away. So he did; Beast Boy turned away and, as fast as he could, darted in the opposite direction of which he had been looking. So much was on his mind at that moment that he closed his eyes, and the next instant felt himself collide with a wall. "Oomf!" he grunted as he fell back onto his bum, eyes immediately flashing open again. The boy reached up to rub his forehead, not daring to look behind him again for two reasons: the first being that he didn't want to see the people who were now presently laughing at him. The second was that he didn't want to ever lay eyes on that spot where he had just seen-possibly for the last time-a girl who he thought was someone he once knew and loved.

Wiping his eye free of the moisture that was accumulating, Beast Boy got to his feet and put his gloved hand over the doorknob. He twisted it and, stepping forward, he found himself outside of the high school in which he had just had that final word with that girl. He allowed the door to swing shut with a "clang" and scratched his head briefly before reaching for his communicator again. He opened it to see that the screen was snowy, and lifted an eyebrow. "Beast Boy to Robin?" he asked the device, but heard no reply. "Where are you? It's not showing up on the communicator for some reason. ...Robin? Hello? Beast Boy requesting your location, over." yet, though he asked, no response was seen or heard. Beast Boy groaned in frustration and equipped the device to his utility belt once again. "Guess I'll just have to wing it...literally," the boy morphed himself into an eagle, green and feathery, and took to the skies in search of his team. Once he was high enough, he flapped his wings so he would stay aloft mid-air, and gazed down on the large city below him. Directly below was the high school which he had just exited. He stared at the huge building and its perimeter for a few moments before letting his eyes roam around the city, squinting a bit.

"Where are they?" he thought to himself, feeling a little worrisome about his teammates. "I've never had a communicator problem like this before; didn't Cyborg say this thing could, like, never fail?" he took on an annoyed expression and, taking a wild guess as to where his four friends might be, flew downwards as fast as he could. The gust that was rushing into his face made Beast Boy tilt his head upward so that his eyes wouldn't be irritated so much. In doing so, he found himself gazing at the clouds in the sky. One looked so much like...

"Terra?" the green one thought, blinking in astonishment. But as soon as the thought came, the cloud seemed to morph into something else entirely. Beast Boy sighed and looked down, flapping his wings so that he pulled up before he hit the ground. In a moment, he was once again in human form. "I could've sworn..." he muttered, glancing up one more time before beginning to run down the street. "Beast Boy, stop it," he chided himself after a moment, "this isn't about her right now...just focus on finding your team." he ran faster, then lept forward and turned himself into a gazelle. He listened carefully as he darted along, trying to detect any sounds of a battle going on from any of the buildings he passed. Frustrated that he was growing tired, Beast Boy stopped running, panted for a few seconds, and then turned into a bloodhound, sniffing the air. "...Gadget-y stuff?" he thought to himself, ears perking up, "Cyborg?" then, he returned his nose to the ground and began following the scent, walking along. "Perfume-no, not any of us. Hotdogs..." the vegetarian Beast Boy gagged a little and continued sniffing. "Eww...some yucky garbage-aha! That's smoke! Possibly...it's from Robin's bomb thingies!" the changeling concluded, following the smoky scent in the air.

As Beast Boy morphed from a dog into a deer, he darted as quickly as possible down the street. The boy kept an eye out for any sign of trouble, but it wasn't until he had run at least a quarter of a mile-out of Jump City, in fact, into the woods-that he saw an explosion erupt a little ways away. Alarmed for the safety of his friends, Beast Boy turned into a huge hawk and soared up high, looking down at the building from which the blast had emitted. Half the roof had been blown off, observed the hawk as he gazed down at the scene. At last, he realized, he'd made it.

Squaking, the morphing superhero dived downward toward the building, fitting through the hole in the roof and managing a neat landing on the floor. By just a quick look around, Beast Boy realized that this place was a recycling center. Upon turning back into a human, the hero's emerald peepers gazed downwards for a moment before finally lifting and laying eyes on the other four members of his team in front of him. He looked on for a moment before starting to run over, transforming into a green triceratops on the way. As he grew closer to the scene, Starfire, the alien girl, looked over at him and seemed to give a small sigh of relief that he was there at last. Cyborg appeared as if he were about to say something, but he was quickly interrupted by Robin, who was trying with all his might to bring down the enemy. It was a strange creature, truth be told. It was somewhat big and appeared to be made of oil. But, as Beast Boy quickly discovered from further observation, it really wasn't oil at all. Just as the monster came in contact with fire from the explosion of a few minutes ago, it quickly made itself exactly that: fire.

Robin cried out-he'd obviously been burned-and lept off of the monster's back to avoid further injury to his person. Starfire swooped over, caught him midair, and returned him to the ground safely. As soon as he was standing, she quickly grabbed his cape and fanned it out rapidly so that the developing flames would cease. Once they were out, Robin took a deep breath and turned to the alien, giving a small smile and thanking her for putting the fire out. She smiled back at him kindly, relieved he wasn't hurt.

"It is no trouble at all, Robin, but perhaps you should not make further physical contact with the creature. It would keep this from happening again, yes?" Starfire asked him, appearing a bit worried. Just as the boy wonder was about to protest, Cyborg raced over, hurriedly announcing that it was nearly impossible to defeat the monster now that it was literally on fire.

"If we don't stop it now, it could catch the surrounding area on fire-we can't let that happen. We have to keep going, especially now that Beast Boy's here to help." Robin took a deep breath, reaching for his utility belt and withdrawing a few smoke bombs. Both Beast Boy and Raven, who was also trying to defeat the creature, came over to listen to their leader's instructions carefully. "Maybe," he resumed speaking once they were by his side, "if we distract it, this can work. Just don't touch it." he kept his eyes trained on the dazed monster as he spoke, not willing to let it get away again. But just as he was about to say something else to his team, a sudden roar came from the enemy's mouth. It began to charge at them, and Robin abruptly shouted, "Titans, go!"

Everyone except for Beast Boy leaped into action, for he was the only one who didn't have powers or equipment to deal with combatting the strange enemy without touching it. He could only observe at this point, and possibly try to find a way to drop something onto the monster. His eyes darted around the area rapidly. "There's gotta be something around here to use!" said the changeling aloud, squinting as he looked from left to right. He desperately wanted to help his team, but right now, there appeared to nothing he could do. More frustrated than ever, he tried to think of any kind of animal which might be immune to the fire, but came up with no ideas whatsoever. "If I was a porcupine," he reasoned to himself, "I could shoot quills!"

"But they'd just burn up, wouldn't they? And I can't spray water because there's none in here." his cheeks turned bright red in anger, and he felt almost as hot as the monster who was burning so rapidly. So Beast Boy stood there motionless as he watched his friends try to outwit the creature. With help from Robin's smoke bombs, they eventually succeded in making the fire creature very confused. Raven, using her ability to grab things with the power of darkness, gripped the monster in a shadow while it was distracted and held it in place as it squirmed. The girl hybrid thrust it into the air, out of the smoke, and flew a little closer to it. After allowing her violet eyes to glare at it for several minutes, she finally noticed something odd. Suspicious, the heroine squinted inside its own red eyes. As the creature continued squirming nonstop, Raven noticed that inside its eyes, there appeared to be small camera lenses; or at least, that's what she recognized them as. They were being adjusted, she realized with a scowl, and immediately knew that someone must be controlling the creature. The girl hunched her shoulders in anger upon realizing this, and glared into the lenses darkly.

"Who are you and why did you send this monster into our city? What are you planning?" she asked, patiently awaiting an answer to somehow emit from the prisoner which was still tightly in her grasp. Several seconds passed, but nothing came. The creature, in fact, wasn't even attempting to move any longer. It was completely still-not even breathing-and seemed to be in a trance-like state. Raven, confused, made a full circle around the creature before once again stopping in front of it and staring into the flames. A little chill came over her suddenly, even though it was very warm in the room, and she took in a deep breath through her nose as she kept staring.

"Raven?" asked Starfire, breaking the silence. The alien glided next to her friend, blinking in wonder that she had managed to temporarily stall the progress of the villain that the team faced. "Are you in need of assistance?" she asked, trying to be helpful. It was only after several seconds that Raven turned to look at her, and the alien princess was startled to find that she looked how she did. Her eyes were wide open, as if she had been frightened, and when she spoke, her voice sounded like she was very confused.

"I sense something..." that was all she said. However, by this time, Starfire's curiosity was overflowing. She questioned what Raven meant by "sensing something", and whether it was a good or bad feeling. Before the demon was able to respond, however, she made a face and suddenly swayed a little to the right. "Wha-?" she questioned, unable to control herself. Starfire whirled to look at the creature which, instead of being in the form of flames now, was completely black. Raven's strong gripping magic immediately disappeared, and the strange thing flew towards the wall, seeming to shrink against it completely and appear as if it were a shadow with beady red eyes. It slithered down to the floor and jotted across it until it was in front of Robin. The boy wonder took out his staff quickly, pointing it downward so that it was just in the creature's face. He, too, noticed the strange eyes, but before he could react, he suddenly jolted onto his back and gave a grunt of both pain and astonishment.

Beast Boy and Cyborg, startled, rushed over to face the shadow; but they, too, were knocked away by an invisible force before they could even make it there. The half-robot stood up as soon as he was knocked down and fired up his sonic cannon, pointing it at the shadow as he prepared to shoot. Raven, Starfire, Robin, and Beast Boy watched in amazement as he blasted the enemy, but were shocked to find that the monster seemed unaffected. Cyborg, stiffening, looked at Raven and motioned for her to do something since, after all, the thing was in the form of her dark magic. She glanced at the creature but, as soon as she did, the shadow slid towards Beast Boy and wrapped itself around the lower part of his leg, evidently trying to either pull him down to the ground or trip him. He flailed his arms and shouted Raven's name helplessly, and she immediately flew over to his aid.

"Azarath metrion zinthos!" she shouted, immediately causing the blackness that was after Beast Boy to become cloaked in another layer of it. She thrust her clenched hands in the opposite direction of the green changeling so that the monster plummeted against the wall. When the girl released her magical grip, however, the shapeshifting enemy that the team of five faced mysteriously seemed to go into the wall and completely disappear. Raven blinked in surprise and landed on the ground, pulling down her hood and staring after it. It was several seconds before anyone spoke; much less moved from their current positions. But Raven was the first to speak. She sounded a little bit shaky when she did, which caught the others off guard since they were used to her being such a confident person.

"That creature-that thing," she breathed, turning to face her friends, "it's in the form of my magic, which means it now has all the powers that I do. This is no ordinary shapeshifter, this could cause great destruction if we let it. I have a feeling it's retreated for today, but..." she paused, furrowing her brows. "It could very well return tomorrow. When I was looking in it's eyes, I saw lenses-camera lenses. Someone is controlling this creature, and whoever they are, they may be dangerous." Raven reported, lowering her violet eyes to the ground as if in deep thought. The others realized she must not be finished, and eagerly waited for her to continue speaking to them about her observations. Robin and Beast Boy were particularly interested, since the former was eager to collect intel on enemies and the latter hadn't had much experience with the monster before. However, presently, when the heroine didn't continue talking, Robin asked her if she'd noticed anything else that seemed strange about their enemy. She locked eyes with him and nodded slowly. "When I was looking at it...I saw something. Something that may have been from the past-I don't know what it means. It-ithey/i were a few jumbled images: a scorpion, a computer...and a volley ball. Whatever they mean, I don't know. They don't make sense to me." confessed Raven, shaking her head. "I'm sorry I can't be more of a help."

"Don't worry, Raven, this ain't making sense to me, either." Cyborg said, scratching the human half of his head and sighing lightly. "I don't even get this whole thing. At first, I thought the creature was wreckin' stuff around the city to get our attention, but if it wanted to, why'd it run every time we tried to fight it?" he asked no one in particular, presenting the question so that everyone would think about it. They did just that-all five of them. They pondered this for a while before Beast Boy turned and abruptly started to exit the building. The others looked after him, and Starfire curiously flew up next to him. She asked kindly if something was the matter, and he shook his head and looked at her.

"I've just got something on my mind. And by the way, Cy," he stopped, turned his head so one eye glanced back at his friend, and held up his communicator, "this is broken." After he said this, Cyborg slowly came over and took the communicator, examining it. He pressed a button and, when it failed to work, appeared a bit confused. He tested his own communicator, which appeared to be fine, and reported that Beast Boy's must have some wiring problems. Robin and Raven came up beside him and checked their own, just to be sure, but Starfire stayed hovered over the green superhero's head, waiting for him to say more as he kept walking. When he didn't say anything after a minute or two, she flew in front of him and folded her hands, eagerly asking him if he would like to accompany the team to get "the pizza". He felt that he couldn't pass up this offer, and after a moment of thought, he gave a toothy smile and a big nod-a dramatic change of mood after his previous gloominess.

"Allow us to partake of the most delicious pizza!" Starfire shouted joyously so that the rest of the team would overhear. They looked at her and smiled, and the group set out to get their dinner. Once they left the recycling facility and began walking down the hill back into town, the Teen Titans discussed various aspects of the day. Though Beast Boy remained silent, the others could tell a lot was on his mind. His eyebrows were furrowed and he mostly kept his arms crossed or hanging at his side. He wasn't whistling, clicking his tongue, or humming something, and wasn't trying to crack a corny joke. The others knew something was wrong, but they decided to wait until they were eating to ask him what was troubling him. Robin was curious as to where he had been and how he had broken his communicator-which Cyborg was currently examining and trying to figure out the solution to-and Robin was also wondering why his teammate seemed to be so out of it. Maybe he was hungry or tired, but since he didn't say anything at the time, perhaps it was personal.

Raven was also concerned about Beast Boy like the others, but she was more worried about that past experience at the moment. That mystery villain controlling the monster may pick any time to strike next, so the group of superheroes would have to be on high alert. Raven glanced behind her to make sure no one was following, and then she continued walking. For now, while the strange thing had fled, the girl decided to think about those strange images she had seen. Why did they flash into her mind's eye and just what did they mean?

b**~~Murakami High School [Jump City]~~**/b

"Excuse me, ma'am? I was hoping you'd have a book on geometry that I could skim through? I've got...a little much on my mind right now," a certain blond-haired blue-eyed girl confessed, shifting on her feet as she stood in front of an elderly librarian seated at her desk, "I don't know if I could find it that quickly. Could you tell me where to find one?" the girl asked, looking around. The librarian stood up and walked over to a certain section of the library, motioning for the student to follow after her. The two walked down a row, and the older woman showed the girl a few books which were on the subject of geometry.

"Here you are, Arret..." she said, giving a nod and turning to walk away. "And, ah, that boy you brought in here with you earlier?" The librarian questioned, turning and lifting a brow at the young girl, who looked sheepish suddenly. "Can you please remind him to be quiet the next time he's here? This is a library, after all."

This "Arret", who the woman addressed, shook her head. "There won't be a next time." she forced back a sigh and sat down, folding her legs and hurriedly beginning to skim through the first book. The librarian left, and Arret was left alone to read before the next period began. She glided through the pages and tried to absorb as much as she could, but found herself feeling very distracted by other thoughts. The past few days had been hectic and very confusing for the girl; she'd spent the night at a friend's house the previous two nights since her parents were away. As a result, she hadn't gotten that much sleep. "I shouldn't have stayed over," she grumbled presently, biting her lip as she kept reading, "I knew I had this big test today. I should have just stayed at home, I can look after myself. It's not like I've got powers, but-" her speech halted, and her mind flew to a completely different topic. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she gently closed the book. "And Beast Boy is-was-such a distraction. He must be insane...I'm not at all who he thinks I am." Arret wasn't speaking aloud now, but thinking to herself and staring ahead blankly. "I'm nothing special," her eyes became downcast, "I don't have powers, I've never saved anyone...I've never even met him before. I don't understand how I could act and look just like...Terra."

She blinked herself awake from her deep thinking and opened her book again, momentarily pushing these confusing thoughts from her mind and trying to study for her test. Preparation seemed hard to do right now, especially since the girl had so much on her mind. There was one happy aspect of today, however: her parents were to be home from their two-day vacation that evening. When Arret got home, they'd be there for her, possibly with a souvenir. "Maybe it'll be something useful besides being fun;" she reasoned to herself, "I'm one of the only kids at this school who doesn't have a backpack." her eyes once again lifted from the book and stared into space. "...If Beast Boy comes around again, maybe I can use it to knock some sense into him. I feel sorry for the guy, but...how could I be a superhero?" she lifted her hands up and made them into fists, imagining that she did for a few moments. However, it wasn't long before the bell rang, and she jumped awake from her thoughts. Hurriedly, Arret got to her feet, put the books away, and raced to where she knew the tests were to be given out. She took hers and sat down, beginning the complicated quiz when the teacher told the students to start.

"For now," she decided, "I'll just forget about Beast Boy."

**~~Pizza Parlor [Jump City]~~**

"We split the pizza into ten slices, right? How do we still have one left over? I had two, did ya'll?" Cyborg was asking his friends presently, recieving nods from each of them except for Beast Boy, who was still nibbling on his crust. He didn't seem very hungry-or focused, for that matter, observed the half-robot as he kept staring at his teammate. When the changeling didn't even look up at him, Cyborg reached across the table and waved his hand in front of the green hero. "BB?" He asked, provoking Beast Boy to lift his emerald eyes up. "Everything okay? Don't ya want that last slice of pizza?" he asked, pulling his robotic arm back to his side. The other titans seated at the table quizzically looked at Beast Boy when he shook his head and continued gnawing at his crust like a rabbit. He said nothing.

"How about dessert?" Robin, who was seated beside the downcast boy, offered. He nearly flinched when he recieved a shake of the head in response. Cyborg had given the last slice of pizza to Starfire in the meantime. She, after smothering it in mustard, downed the thing in one gulp and turned to look at Beast Boy. She was sitting on his other side, and reached her arm out to pat his back, asking if something was troubling him. Everyone knew there must be some occurance happening since their normally starving vegetarian friend didn't want dessert. They knew about his sightings of Terra, the girl who had been turned to stone a while back, but couldn't quite bring themselves to accept her return. There was no logical explanation that they could think of quite yet.

"I know you guys don't believe I saw Terra...and I don't know if I do, either." Beast Boy took a sip of his water and then leaned back in his chair a little, apparently thinking. "I thought it was her. I saw her at the school and talked to her for a while...I took her here for pizza last night, and I brought her over to the tower...but she doesn't remember any of it. Not any of you, or me, or her room, or anything! She goes to a dumb high school now! Her friends are stupid, her life is stupid...I don't want that for her!" frustrated, the boy angrily scratched his head and gritted his teeth, feeling hurt on the inside that his former friend didn't seem to believe that she was worth more than that. "Maybe Terra does remember and she wants to start over. But she was a hero, she saved us all. Why would she want to start over?" that thought disturbed him the most.

Everyone now believed that he had truly seen her, and they berated themselves for not listening to him. Robin shook his head, presently. "I don't think," he said, staring at Beast Boy, "that she would want to restart her life if she remembered us, unless there's something we're missing here." The boy put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll get to the bottom of this. We may have two threats at hand, but we will solve them. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"I've gotta worry, though," Beast Boy said in response, furrowing his brows, "because if the girl I knew is still there, I've gotta get her back."


	3. Misperception

**Just a Memory**

Chapter Two - Misperception

No one in the group of five knew the exact time that it was but, obviously, it was getting later as the minutes rolled by. The sun, bright and warm as it was on that beautiful summer day, was now a mere memory to those lurking around in the city. No one could see it, really, unless they were high up; for it had lowered so much that the skyscrapers made it seem invisible. Passersby rushed and scurried along as the team of five continuously pressed homeward bound. But, this very team aforementioned now seemed to be very quiet. This was highly unusual, since the roommates tended to discuss all sorts of things when they were casual with each other. At the times when they weren't facing a villain, discussing a serious topic, or trying to solve a mystery at hand, the four (excluding Raven) were mostly very talkative and friendly to one another. But, in sharp contrast to this, the troupe was very quiet at the present moment.

Starfire and Raven flew above their friends as they preferred to do when the sidewalks were crowded-which they were on that certain evening. It was a Friday night, after all, and moviegoers and shoppers saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of Jump City's various shopping centers; some of which were having sales. The alien herself sometimes went out on a Friday; mostly to take Robin to a movie, Raven to the mall, or one of the boys to the arcade. Starfire was fascinated with earthly things, and never tired of trying to grow more and more accustomed to all that this planet had to offer. She had been to several different nations already, but she wanted even more opportunities to explore-her spirit was especially curious and interested about other cultures and their people. That was why, when Terra first showed up, the galactic princess had been so friendly and compassionate to her. Wasn't Terra living in the wilderness, after all?

In a sense of logic, something like that of which Raven possessed, one could even reason that the method to Terra's madness WAS the fact that she lived in the wilderness once. The girl wasn't as exposed to people as the average human was, and she most always fended for herself-didn't she? No one really knew what she ate or how she went about her day, exactly, but it must have been very different from the way that normal people lived. She didn't seem to have a friend in the world when the Titans met her and, though she seemed friendly enough, perhaps her reason for living outside of the normal way of life was because she simply didn't get along well with other humans. Raven didn't know her exceptionally well when she had joined the team, but she knew her well enough to trust her. It was just such a shame that the young heroine had to turn her back on the few friends she had. But, Beast Boy, however...he wasn't only her friend, was he? At least, he didn't think so. The boy and girl got along exceptionally well with each other; and not only that, there seemed to be a spark in their relationship. Terra was really the only person to have the opinion that Beast Boy was exceptionally humorous aside from Starfire, who mostly giggled at his jokes just because she didn't understand them.

But Terra was actually genuinely impressed with the jokes...wasn't she? "Or, maybe," Beast Boy uttered aloud, a little smile appearing on his face, "she was impressed with me in general? Yeah..." a streak of pride entered him, and the boy smirked as he walked along, puffing out his chest and swinging his arms.

"I am pretty funky, aren't I?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow and looking to the person immediately to his left. This happened to be a middle-aged lady who was carrying groceries in her arms. She visibly prickled at his comment, cautiously turned her eyes away from him, and walked slower so that she would fall back into the large crowd of the city. The changeling's face reddened when he actually realized what he'd done, and he immediately sped up his pace so that he was walking in-between Cyborg and Robin. The two weren't very focused on their surroundings, rather, on where they were going and what their mission at hand was. The leader (Robin) had decided that the team would take shifts overnight, two at a time staying up to keep track of Jump City to see if there was any unusual activity. Since there were five Titans, the last shift would feature only Cyborg because it took a shorter time to charge his battery than it did for the others to sleep a full night. Therefore, he'd be more rested in the morning than he would otherwise be if he was human.

When the team got home, all would go to sleep right away so they were rested enough to take their turns later. It was presently about seven thirty or so, and by the time the five got home, it would probably be eight o'clock. Starfire would take the first two-hour shift, followed by Raven, then Beast Boy; and finally, Cyborg. The group hoped that nothing serious would take place. In fact, they were mentally crossing their fingers and hoping that the monster wouldn't come back at all. But wasn't it almost inevitable that the strange creature would return the next day? If the person or persons controlling it meant business, then it most likely would. But the biggest question right now was, just who WAS in power of the destructive being, and what was their motive?

**~~Titans' Tower - Around 8:00 PM~~**

All five of the heroes took the elevator up to the hallway which housed their rooms once they were back. All except for Starfire exited the elevator and, after saying goodnight, began to separate and head to their rooms. The alien girl clicked some buttons inside of the transit and ascended to the next floor; which so happened to be the main room of the tower. The floor included a kitchen off to the right, a sitting area to the left, and a gigantic television in the back-center of the room. Starfire, smiling, flew over to the kitchenette and began to prepare herself a Tamaranean dinner so she could monitor the security systems while she ate. It wasn't quite the equivalent of a dinner to the other four members of the team; but to Starfire, it was a delicacy. She opened the fridge and withdrew four pieces of cheese, some eggs, some tofu that Beast Boy had given her permission to use, and some orange juice.

And once she had a bowl and mixing appliances on the counter, she began to prepare her dinner. It took her about ten minutes to do, but when she was done, the alien was practically drooling from just the pure smell of the meal. She grabbed a jar of dry (dead) worms, took three out, and positioned them symmetrically on top of her so-called "masterpiece". Just then, as she was about to go and sit on the couch, Silkie, Starfire's pink pet maggot, pulled himself up onto the counter and sniffed the food she had just prepared. The little creature tilted his head in question.

"Oh, is it not the most delicious thing you have ever seen in your life, my little bumgorf? I cannot wait to partake of it!" she gave her special friend a kiss on the head and grabbed a large spoon. "But I am afraid I cannot play with you right now, Silkie-I have an important job to do." the Tamaranean proceeded to float over to the couch and sit down. She spooned some of the delicacy in her mouth and reached out her hand, tapping a button on the large electronic table in front of her. Starfire then entered a password, and a view of at least twenty or so outside security cameras appeared on the huge television in front of her. Blinking and briefly scanning each one of them, the girl sighed and sat back against the couch. "Silkie," she reported, addressing the mutant worm still lingering on the countertop, "this may be a long night for all of us."

But, in fact, the night went by fairly peacefully without any interruptions or disturbances around town. Surprisingly enough, there was no suspicious activity around Jump City whatsoever-or, at least, it wasn't caught on camera. The Titans took their separate shifts and all ended up getting plenty of rest. When morning came, Starfire-who had succeeded in getting the most sleep of them all-took it upon herself to make them a breakfast of pancakes and bacon (tofu for Beast Boy). They all ended up enjoying it immensely, despite their previous hesitation when it came to eating her "specially-prepared" food. But it turned out to be very good, and once they were done, they took up their own separate activities.

**~~Murakami High - The Previous Night's Events~~**

School eventually ended for the exhausted Arret. After a very hard day of straining her brain, the tired student filed out of school with her classmates. The blond girl, without even really paying attention to where she was going since she knew the way home so well, began blindly walking to the gate which lead into the schoolyard. She didn't take the bus since she could walk. Hopefully, her parents would be home by this time. It'd be wonderful to see them again after such a long trip, wouldn't it? And perhaps...just maybe, they wouldn't be leaving again anytime soon. Arret truly enjoyed spending time with them-and couldn't wait to return to their apartment to share a nice dinner. But just then, happening to interrupt her thoughts, one of her friends who was about to get on the bus shouted her name. Once Arret turned to look at her, the apparently excited girl waved her over to her side. The girls were a few feet from each other in a few moments, and Arret's friend-a somewhat ostentatious redhead-reached out to shake her hand. The two girls had been friends for several months, now. And the day before yesterday, they'd spent the night together with the friend who Arret happened to be staying with. The three girls were very close. Presently, the young student took the hand of her friend and shook it.

Come to think of it, it was a bit odd that someone would shake her hand. Trying to be polite, she asked if the girl needed anything from her. But, however, she found herself to be quite taken aback by the reply her friend gave. The girl even went so far as to bristle at the response because it was so strange...not to mention, sudden. She said, "I had a great time last night at the slumber party; it's nice to know the new girl's so nice." And that provoked the other somewhat touchy young lady to stiffen and let out a "what?". Just what did her schoolmate mean by "new girl"? Hadn't Arret been there for a good while, now? Nearly a full year? Blinking, she tilted her head as if to say "what are you talking about?", and awaited a hopefully hasty reply. Her fellow student bit her lip, apparently growing uncomfortable.

"Oh, did I say something wrong? Excuse-"

"Hold on," cut in the blond girl, quite abruptly, "I've been here for as long as you have...why did you call me that?" Arret asked, narrowing her blue eyes. Maybe her friend had just made a mistake-no one was perfect, after all. And yet, it was still odd that the girl who she'd known for quite a while now would slip up like that. She was usually a perfectionist both in action and speech. Maybe she was just teasing about something-there might be a hidden joke there that the schoolgirl had failed to notice. But when her "friend" proposed the next question, Arret began thinking otherwise. Maybe something wasn't wrong with her classmate; maybe it was her.

"You just came here a couple of days ago. What are you talking-?" before she could continue on speaking, the bus driver honked the horn and interrupted her. She gave a start and looked at the impatient man at the wheel, at last giving sigh and admitting that she had to run. "I have to go. Maybe we can…talk later. Here—I'll write my number down for-"

Arret's mouth fell open. She rapidly shook her head, feeling her feet instinctively begin to move backward. "I have your number at home! I-I got it months ago, I'm sure of it!" she exclaimed, feeling even more nervous and uncomfortable than she did a few moments before. The girl turned her back and hastily began running off, not even bothering to say goodbye to her classmate. As soon as she'd run a full block, however, the panting teenager began to slow her pace drastically. Luckily, the bus didn't come this way for a while. It pulled out of the drive and turned left; which happened to be the opposite direction that Arret's home was in. In a little while, the girl knew she'd be home if she walked at this pace. Wasn't it, after all, the same pace she walked every day? It took her ten minutes, if she remembered correctly. But did she? The only thing that seemed to surface in her mind's eye was the thought that her friends must be crazy…they'd spent fun times together within the past months; how could they just treat her like this? Arret was certain that she wasn't the one who was crazy. How could that be, anyway? What had happened to her?

"Maybe," she spoke to herself quietly, "Beast Boy has something to do with all of this…" an angry look—almost a vile one—came over the girl's face when she thought of the possibility that he had provoked all her friends to say they didn't know who she was. It might be a plan he'd conjured up to ensure she'd come back to him for assistance. "That won't happen;" growled the schoolgirl in disgust, hunching her shoulders as she continued to walk along the busy city streets. "I don't need him…I never did and I never will. He's obviously some jerk who just needs a—" a thought crossed her mind that never had before, and it seemed to be so gut-wrenching that Arret even felt the sudden need to apologize to him. Maybe he only needed a friend. She didn't know the whole story, here, and it was very possible that the only reason Beast Boy wanted her to "remember" him was because he needed a friend. Possibly, he'd had some kind of traumatic experience with one lately and he really wanted to start over? The whole story about Arret being his former friend may just be an excuse. But then why did it, to her, sound so believable? So logical…

Another scenario was that, possibly, maybe this Terra really did exist (or had existed before something tragic had happened to her). It may be a huge case of mistaken identity on Beast Boy's part; maybe he was just so desperate to see her again that he'd just resorted to believing she was—or was somehow connected to—Arret. Maybe he'd gone insane from that loss of her? Arret wondered just how important she was to him. Were they friends, or something more than that? They couldn't very well be close relatives since he'd never mentioned such. So, therefore, the only option left besides friendship was…that other thing.

The girl scowled at the thought and quickened her pace; a nerve snapping in half at that small idea. What would her friends say if she even dared to present the idea to them? Laugh would be the first option, of course; but Arret wasn't keen on being teased at all. She stayed in the shadows—preferred not to enter any sort of talent show or other presentation to showcase abilities. She really had none, other than her intelligence. But in spite of her unwillingness to allow them to find out about Beast Boy, the gossipy people at school had their own way of finding things out. Strangely enough, though she had been there for months, she never had quite known what that was.

In fact, now that she thought about it, she didn't remember several of her teachers who she had seen today. Why was that? Why didn't she seem to recall who they were? But ah- there was no time to dwell on that, for at that moment, Arret found herself on the front steps of her apartment building. It wasn't nearly as large as the surrounding complexes, but it was a comfortable size. The rooms were pleasant enough, the people were fairly friendly, and it didn't cost Arret's parents a fortune to live in the place. Despite the nice place, however, the girl had always sort of wanted to move into an actual house. The crowded city was alright, but she had an underlying desire to travel to different places. Places that weren't so crowded, had plenty of space and fresh air…and places where she could just be alone to do whatever she wanted. The only person that knew of this was herself.

As the schoolgirl entered the building, she found herself thinking about what had happened at school again. The situation with her supposedly being "new" was really…disturbing. And, even if her "friends" were teasing her about this, it wasn't funny. They'd never done it before; why start now? Maybe because they'd seen her with Beast Boy the day she'd first met him somehow turned off their opinion of her? She didn't understand it. Yet another reason to want to move. Maybe she could ask her parents if this were possible; yet it probably wasn't since her mother had a good-paying job in Jump City at the moment and her father seemed to have a fair amount of friends in this complex. Presently, she ascended the stairs one at a time, thoughts only serving to make her more and more nervous and confused. But before Arret knew it, she found herself on the third floor. She turned to her left and took a key from her pocket, inserting it in the door for room #12. After twisting it, the student twisted the knob in her hand and entered the apartment building, not looking up as she made her way to the table to set her stuff down.

Once this was accomplished, she looked up and was just about to call out to her parents when she felt an odd presence behind her. The blond froze and bit her lip, suddenly noticing a little belatedly that the room was almost completely dark. No lights were on at all, and the only light which was there illuminated from the window—which had no blinds, curtains, etc. Arret knew her parents promised her that they'd be back by the time she got off from school…but they weren't here.

"Anybody ho-?" Arret jumped when she heard the door slam shut behind her, and she was about to whirl around when she was grabbed from behind by a hand—it was much bigger than her own. She was hit by something, and then she blacked out.


End file.
